What She's Worth
by FreeSpritSprite
Summary: But could she do this to him? After about 2.3 seconds she decided that she could. 'Ok James, one chance'. About what Lily means to James, obviulsy JPLE. Very loosely based on a song.
1. It's Possible

Harrison Potter was a very busy man, and though he loved his family dearly, he didn't have as much time to spend with them, especially his young son James, as he would have liked. But on this fresh spring day James and his father were walking briskly down a dirt road on their annual fishing trip.

James thoroughly enjoyed fishing, though the first time his father explained, he wondered why Harrison didn't just 'accio' the fish and save them huge amounts of time. Now that he was a mature 7-year-old young man, James understood that this trip was about the quality time rather than the fish.

Father and son had just settled down and were discussing the most recent trick that James and Sirius had played on Narcissa. Harrison didn't exactly encourage such things, but as long as nobody got hurt he let it slide. Just as James got to the good part, he was interrupted by the screeching of the front gate. They both turned and James stared, surprised, at a red headed girl and her father. He had gotten it into his head that this was the Potter's private spot, and had never seen another person here.

Harrison, however, remembered his manners and invited the pair, who they learned were named Lily and Derek Evans, muggles, from London, on _their_ annual fishing trip, to join them. James thought that it was a very good thing they hadn't been 'accioing' fish when the Evans's walked up.

Being seven years, James and Lily were not extremely fond of girls and boys respectively, and though they became fast friends, they also got on each other's nerves. James pulled one of Lily's braids; Lily put worms in James' perfect (in his opinion) hair. They almost got in a food fight when James accidentally flicked a glob of dressing from his carrot onto Lily's nose, Lilly did not double up laughing as the guys did, and did not see this as an accident. Their father's however, didn't want any waste of the hard caught and hauled food. Lily had to suffice with throwing a small piece of mud, which hit James in the center of his forehead. This caused a mud fight, in which the fathers did not object (it wasn't as if they were wasting mud), and after they had covered the food, Harrison and Derek joined in. The four of them ended up in the stream, wet, dirty, and laughing hysterically, thinking of what their wives and mothers would say.

As James and Harrison walked back down the road that evening James was unusually quiet.

"Is something the matter son?"

"Do- do you think that I'll ever see Lily again Dad?" replied James, a little nervously

"It's possible", came the gentle answer.

"Could I owl her a letter when we get home?" James was hopeful now.

"Lilly's a muggle James, they don't send letters by owl", Harrison told his son as kindly as possible.

"Oh", came the crestfallen answer, followed only by the sounds of dusk and their footsteps.

"Dad?" James asked quietly.

"Yes son"

"Do you think that m-maybe I could marry Lily someday?"

"Its possible, but James, you need to remember, she's a muggle and you're a wizard."

"So, the Potters don't think that they're better than muggles…or, Dad, do you think she might be a witch, but just not know it yet?"

"That's possible."

"Sweet!"

"But, James," Harrison said slowly, "It's not likely. There are a lot of girls in the world, maybe it seems right now that Lily is the best one, but, it might be best if you didn't contact her too much." Harrison refrained for interjecting that they were only 7 after all, knowing that to James that it A) wouldn't matter and B) it might be insulting.

"You're not going to stop me from being friends with her are you dad? Anybody would be better than her." James thought of Sirius, who wouldn't be happy to hear that, and wondered if he meant that to include him as well.

Harrison, surprised at the declaration, decided to test his son's convictions.

"Even Remus?"

"Yeah" James said dejectedly.

"Peter?"

"Definitely"

"Sirius?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask that, I don't know about Sirius, he's like my brother"

"I know son, don't worry, I'm not going to be taking anybody away"

"All right!" James had been getting worried there. Life without Sirius. Life without Lily…both terrible options, but he thought, in his seven year old mind, that the former would be worse.


	2. muggles

10 years later they were still James Potter and Lily Evans, or Lily Evans and James Potter, depending on who you were talking too. James had been thrilled to find that Lily was, in fact, a muggle-born witch, and that she had been accepted into Hogwarts. They ran into each other at the sorting ceremony, after they had been sorted into the same house. As soon as he saw Lily come up to the front to be sorted James realized that he really liked her. She looked beautiful, and he, in his 11-year-old state, thought he was in love. When James was put into Gryffindor he made up his mind that somebody must have loved him a lot. Everything was falling into place, and he had to restrain himself from skipping to the Gryffindor table to sit next to her.

Lilly on the other hand was stunned to see that James was a wizard and a little put out that he hadn't told her. When James beckoned Sirius over to sit on his other side and then introduced him as his 'best mate' Lily was even less pleased with James. Being altogether 'Hermioneish' (despite the fact that Hermione is far from being born at this point) Lily had read a great deal on the wizarding world and knew how the Blacks felt about muggle-borns like herself. Being a slightly irrational adolescent female (no offence to adolescent females out there of course) she simply refused to talk to James for the rest of the night. I assume you all know the story from here, James asked Lily out over and over, she grew more and more annoyed, but eventually relented. This segment of their lives occurs shortly after the end of their 7th year.

After the graduation festivities died down, the Gryffindors returned to their respective dorms and spent one last night in Hogwarts. The next day James decided to take Lily on a muggle date, and she was thrilled. Lily decided that they would go to see an outdoor movie at a lovely park in London. James thought Lily had said it was called Greece, and was strongly hoping that his (sometimes overly) bright girlfriend wasn't forcing him to see a documentary.

Lily had a grand time finding James a muggle outfit for their night out.

"Exactly what are those monstrosities?" James said while eyeing the stonewashed bellbottoms that Lily had pulled off the shelf in Sears (assuming they have those in England).

"They're called bellbottoms, and the…" Lily was cut off by her boyfriend's protests.

"You want me to wear these 'clothes' (which he said with distain), these _concoctions_, and they are called _bellbottoms_? They're made out of leather for crying out loud!"

"Shhhh! Everybody wears them _here_. Besides, they're not _made _out of leather, they simply have stripes of leather down the sides." Lilly replied, trying to explain that all the muggle boys wore them and the James needed to calm down. Then she turned her eyes on him, to clinch the deal.

"Ugh, fine, you know, you always do that to me, ugh." James ranted and stomped around in a very small huff.

"Now, about your shirt,"

"What? My shirt? What's wrong with _my_ shirts?"

"Come on, its my graduation" ignoring the fact that it was also _his _graduation, "I've been wearing _thIat_ clothing for years and"

"But _you're_ a --"

'_Don't say it_" Lily whispered hurriedly before he could finish.

"Right, anyway, I'll wear these strange contraptions, for this one night"

Lily preceded to dig through the racks of shirts, and eventually found the right one, it said a lot for James' love for her when he agreed to don the maroon button down with slightly flared sleeves. He appeased himself with muttering 'muggels' very quietly under his breath.

A/N: thanks to everybody that reviewed. Any song guesses yet? Sorry this took so long to get out, it was going to be longer than this, but I've decided to break their date up into at least one more chapter, maybe two. And, there shall me more after that. Song ideas, if people guess, and get it wrong, I may give a hint, I want to see what ya'll think about that though.


	3. Take It

I know it's been forever, sorry bout that. Thanks so much to everybody who reviewed, keep it up please. Blackjeans101, you're the reason this is up now instead of later. Please review guys, and I still haven't got any song guesses, maybe this will help (though I try not to quote as to keep away from cheesiness, and copywrite infringement, speaking of which, I don't own any of this stuff . I hope you like it.

After watching Greece James was profoundly grateful that Lily had been as conservative as she was in her choices concerning his wardrobe. Not only were his clothes not skin tight they were also not comprised completely of black leather. It was a perfect night, with the sky full of stars, and they thoroughly enjoyed it, sitting with Lily wrapped in James' strong arms, leaning against his chest on a blanket that James had thought to bring. He even refrained from charming it to make it colder than normal so that she'd sit closer, and was rewarded for his maturity as she sat close to him of her own choosing.

Lily decided to introduce James to the miracle that was Dairy Queen (_honestly how have you survived 17 years without a blizzard is _beyond_ me_) and they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. "So James, how do you like it here?"

"Well the lights are very strange" he replied with a smirk. But James didn't get the answering laugh that he expected, and was instead met with a very startled gasp. "Lily, what's wrong?"

"James", her voice was shaking. Before James could do anything somebody grabbled Lily and spun her into his own arms. The man said in a very low, vaguely familiar voice, "I have a gun. Do what I tell you to and your girl will be just fine." There went James' ideas of fighting him off. He hadn't spent much time among muggels but he knew how dangerous firearms were.

More afraid than he'd ever been, James nevertheless tried to at least appear calm and confident for Lily's sake (and yes for the sake of his self-respect). He gave her a reassuring look, that she answered with a flick of her eyes to her captor, mouthing the word "Malfoy", and then the phrase, "I love you". It was a testament to their relationship that James immediately recognized that Lily was not professing her love for Malfoy, but that she was letting know who held her, and something even more important –that she loved James, that she trusted him to get them out of this.

"What do you want?" It took all of James' control to keep contempt or cheek out of his voice. For Lily he'd swallowed his pride before and was perfectly willing to do it again.

"Turn out your pockets boy", Lucius answered in a rough voice.

James did immediately, though smoothly. Lily was grateful for that he wasn't giving up all of his self-respect, she didn't think she could bear it if James was too compliant. "Wallet—money, credit cards, pictures of the most beautiful woman in the world", at that point Lily sniffed and Lucius scoffed. James left out the gum wrappers subway stubs, no need to be too impertinent.

James handed over all of his finds but Lucius wasn't done yet. "Thats a nice watch you've got on."

"Antique, my grandfather's" James said as he removed the gold watch, in his family for three generations, without a thought. And reaching into his shirt pocket James continued "and the key to my broom shed". Lily gasped and shock registered in Lucius' eyes. "Yes mate, I know who you are". Lucius grabbed the key and shoved Lily at James who, thanks to years of seeker training, caught her immediately and thanks to deep love and commitment held her tight as the tears that she'd been holding back (James wasn't the only one faking confidence during their ordeal) flowed over and soaked his new shirt.

"James, I'm so sorry" she said, her voice trembling as the rest of her body was.

He held rubbed her back with his right hand, still holding her tight with his left. "Shhh, shhh, it's all right. Don't blame yourself, none of this is your fault"

"All that money…" she was fighting to get her breathing under control.

"My family's loaded Lily", James retorted with a crooked smile, winning just a small one from his girl. "Remind me to cancel those credit cards though, no need to help those lovely Malfoys any more than necessary"

"You're new broom…" thanks to James her tears were starting to subside, just a little.

"I'll get another one, and even if I couldn't, even if we didn't have the money, none of those _things_ are nearly as important as you are. Nothing will ever come close to being _half_ as important as you are." He held her tighter, there had to be some way to stop the shaking.

"You're grandfather's watch", there went Lily's dream of watching James give it to their first son on the day they graduated from Hogwarts.

"Just a thing love, just a thing." _Thank heaven, she's calming down. _"He didn't get the most important thing"

"You're broom James, a Mars 3000, they aren't even out in Korea yet!"

He laughed, if she was upset at least she wasn't crying or quivering anymore, "you, Lily, you. Or the 2nd most important thing for that matter."

"What are you talking about?"

And with a broad grin James got down on one knee. "The reason I didn't take his instruction to turn out my pockets literally. Well this and the fact that in these pants I don't even know how. Lilly Evans, will you marry me?"

He held a gorgeous ring towards her (she didn't even want to think about how long it must have taken him to earn the money for it, he'd never let his parents buy her engagement ring), but what she really wanted was the hand holding the ring, and the man attached to it. The man she loved with all her heart, the man who she knew for sure would give up anything for her. The tears came again, this time tears of intense joy and love, but James didn't know that. His face was stricken, "Lily, d-did I say something wrong?" He was franticly running the last few minutes through his mind".

"No James", then she suddenly realized how James might take that answer. "I mean yes James", realizing how he might take that as well, Lily went on, "no you didn't say anything wrong, and yes I will marry you"

"Yahoo!!!!!!!!" He jumped to his feet, picked her up, swung her around and kissed her soundly. "Thank you" he breathed after setting her down, and slipped the ring onto her finger.

"Thank _you_ James"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the park and into a dancing position. "I know you were supposed to be in charge of this date, but I have a few plans up my sleeve," glancing down at the short sleeves she'd picked for him, "or, I would if I had sleeves…"

"There's no music James"

"Of course there is." And he sang into her ear, the song he knew was one of her favorites, from the Muggle movie Aladdin she'd made him watch last summer, about how he'd show her the world. And they danced, more to the beat of their love than anything else.

After their danced Sirus sauntered up with a grin on his face, noting the huge amount of precious mineral on Lily's ring finger and handed James his broom (he'd been holding it all day for this purpose, Malfoy would find an empty shed), so that James could make good on part of his promise (though, because of time constraints they returned home after watching the sun come up over the Taj Mahal).

"Lily, we're engaged! You're my fiancé!"

"Shh…don't wake up the whole country"

"Just this one city? Please? I'm so excited!"

"And don't you dare make us fall off this broom"

James looked offended, "a complete impossibility"

"Lily Potter", she tried out for the first time in front of James (and the thousandth counting all the time out of his presence), "sounds good doesn't it?"

"Mmm" he murmured, "I figured that out a long time ago fiancé of mine, you have no idea how long I've waited to say that"

"Feels good, doesn't it?"

"Yes…" everything felt good right now.


	4. It's About Us

AHHH, well, for one, yeah, I'm a slow updater, sorry about that :D. And thanks to all of you who reviewed, I'm also a terrible review answerer, but I think I've got that fixed (the alerts weren't coming to my email). I've got at least two more chapters planned, likely at least three. I hope you like it. Please review when you're done, even if you just want to tell me you liked it (if you didn't I'd rather not her about it :D). thanks, and, please enjoy…

A month before their wedding Lily was sure she was never going to make it to the ceremony. James, as Lily's intended, didn't think he'd make it either. Somehow he was so often her figurative punching bag when the stress got to be too much. James wasn't sure why, though Sirius suggested without a shred of sympathy that it might have something to do with how James had been late to the engagement pictures, ruined his new dress robes playing quiddich when he should have been overseeing the clothing of the groomsmen (his ONE SINGULAR RESPONCIBILITY according to Lily) and was frequently caught starting at his fiancé when he was supposed to be helping her make an apparently important decision about flowers or china or something silly like that.

It was after a particularly stressful lunch with Lily's mother (really, if they insisted on meeting to discuss wedding details they could at least leave him out of it). James had pulled Lily aside afterward and suggested in a half-joking manner that they elope in Mexico and seen her actually consider it. It was then that he knew for certain she needed a break and fully intended to give it to her. He'd worked much too long to make her his to see her loose her mind right before they made it official, aside from the fact that he'd probably loose his mind if he lost her. Yes, that'd probably be slightly problematic as well.

"Lily" he announced that evening, she was currently pouring over a seating chart, her biggest issue, though he couldn't understand why (she'd balked when he'd suggested that they just use house tables. _EVERYBODY was in GRYFFINDOOR JAMES_).

Grunt.

"You and I are going out tonight"

"Oh really?" she said a little testily.

"Yep" and with that he blindfolded her, picked her up and apparated to a beach in Cancun. "I think you need a break"

He held her in a hammock, after magically changing them both into more appropriate clothing, and rocked her back and forth like he had when her best friend had been kidnapped by deatheaters and on the night before N.E.W.T.s when she'd been nearly as stressed as she was now.

"This is lovely James, but –"

"But what?"

"It's not the I don't appreciate what you're doing, but, I just don't have time for enjoying myself when there's a wedding to plan"

_This woman has got to get her views on life back in order, and I am just the man to do that for her_. "Lily, this wedding is about celebrating us, about spending our lives together and having our own family. All this other stuff is just stupid traditions, you don't have to plan anything you don't want to."

"If only, what would people say…"

"Personally I don't think anybody will notice anything except how ravishing you look."

"Right, most people see better than you do James"

He scoffed at that but decided to change his tactics. "Tell you what, how about I help out more? Give me whatever it is that is giving you the most trouble"

"James, that's very sweet of you, but I know you don't like this kind of thing"

Shifting her around to look into her eyes, he rested his forehead on hers. "No Lily I don't, but I like you" he smirked "really I more than like you" he finished in an offhand voice.

"Thank you so much James" she laid her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Now do you have time to relax?"

She nodded against his chest and they watched the sun go down and ate slices of chilled pineapple.

The next morning found James trying to find everybody a seat. Where on earth was he supposed to put Mad Eye Moody? Could he put Andromeda and her husband anywhere near Arthur Weasley without him driving them crazy with questions about muggles? Exactly who should be at the head table? Padfoot, much to James' chagrin, was having a fine time laughing uproariously at these seemingly unimportant decisions that James was struggling to make (of course, as best man his seat was already set). At least he had some good points. Just when James was ready to give up he chimed in. "She's really worth all this?" he asked while his right arm flung out to take in the stakes of invitations, red and gold centerpieces and miniature reception layout with tiny flags all over it representing people James was trying to seat. Of course they both knew that this was a rhetorical question, James had proved that already. And, though unsympathetic, Sirius did have one good idea, Mad Eye ended up next to Lily's sister Petunia.


	5. Anything

Hi guys. Yeah, I'm a slow updater, sorry, but I'm here now. And, I've been working on this for a while, so I think it's pretty good. I hope you think so too. Sorry, this episode won't be self-contained, but I wanted to get something up tonight. Now that's it's summer I promise I'll update more frequently. Hopefully I'll be done by the end of the summer. It's actually a lot longer than I anticipated; I was thinking 3 or 4 chapters. I hope you like it and please Review thanks to everybody who reviewed before!!, even if it's short. They make me really happy and make me want to update. And without further ado…

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At James' request Sirius threw a small bachelor party. Very small, marauders only. Only, it turned out much to Sirius' chagrin, also excluded all types of females. Of course this should have been expected, it'd been years since James Potter had eyes for any woman but Lily Evans. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs had stormed Hogwarts, for their first night of pranking since graduation, this time without the threat of detention. After starting a snowstorm in the Transfiguration corridor, causing very large, very bouncy mushrooms to grow all over the potions room (perfect for jumping on they'd discovered in 3rd year) and locking peeves in a vanishing cabinet the boys moved outside.

James saw it first, an old-fashioned push mower next to the changing rooms on the pitch. He turned to Sirius "Pads! Is that for what I think it is?"

"Why yes Jamesie" he produced a key for a pocket in his robes "but we do it in style"

You see, on James 36th attempt to get Lily to go out with him during 5th year they'd mowed "James Potter LOVES Lily Evans" in the grass of the pitch before the opening game Quiddich robes and all.

After the mowing and a huge grass fight (which is why Sirius had decided upon this activity in the first place) they took a ride on the old school brooms in their old robes (or in Remus' and Peter's cases some that they'd nicked from the changing room) to admire their handy work. "Just like old times eh Pads?"

"Right mate, except much more relaxing. It's amazing how much less stressful my life is now that you've finally won Lily flower". Sirius never had gotten over their pet name.

"You're life!" James scoffed, "what about me?"

"You chose it, I was just an innocent victim of your insanity and Lily's rage"

Remus scoffed and the idea of the word "innocent" and Sirius Black being in the same thought.

"Ha, the worst of those ideas were your mate, remember the niffler incident?"

"Yeah, that was funny." Sirius answered with absolutely no remorse for the fact that James had almost lost a finger and Lily's great grandmothers antique necklace had been broken as a result of his harebrained scheme to find Lily buried treasure.

"Because you weren't the one whose ears Lily literally hexed off"

"Thank Merlin for Madame Pomfrey"

"Amen"

"And that one time with the table?"

"Yeah, that certain was…colorful. I think I've permanently lost some of the hearing in my left ear thanks to you"

…FLASHBACK…FLASHBACK…FLASHBACK…

"James, why can't you just leave me alone? I want a normal life! A boyfriend that lasts for more than a week! Peace and quiet! I don't want you showing off for me and I don't want you asking me out every five minutes! I just want to get through school and never see you again!"

Her words echoed around the empty charms room (with the exception of the arguers and one Sirius Black who thought it best not to leave Lily alone with James when she was in such a state, especially with the quiddich finals coming up). "But I love you Lily"

"No, you don't"

"I do too!"

"You don't know what you're talking about James!"

"Of course I do! They are _my_ feelings!"

"If you loved me you wouldn't treat me like this!"

"What?" James was confused. He'd simply composed an ode to the love of his life and read it to her at the top of his lungs while standing on top of the Gryffindoor dinner table. How could such an action convey anything but love?

"You go around and annoying and embarrassing me"

"But Lily, I do all these things _for_ you"

"No, you don't. You do them for you! When you love somebody you want to make _them_ happy. You want me to go out with you for _you_, not me."

"Lily, I love you, I want to make you happy, I just need you to let me. I'll do anything you want, let me prove that I'm serious about you". To Sirius' credit and James' eternal gratitude, the longhaired heartthrob chose this moment not to interrupt with an overused joke.

Lily thought that this might be the break she'd been waiting for. Maybe James could be convinced that he didn't really love her and would then leave her alone. But could she do this too him? After about 2.3 seconds she decided that she could. "Ok James, one chance"

"Thank you Lily! (He could have kissed her but restrained himself) I promise, I'll do anything you want."

"You know the quiddich game coming up?" This was a purely rhetorical question; Quiddich was 2nd on James' favorite things list, right after Lily.

"Of course" He was eager to prove himself. Maybe she'd like him to dedicate the match to her, or get the team to spell her name with their bodies in midair.

"I want you to loose it"

"I'd be – what?!" His ready response of "I'd be happy to" died when James processed what she'd just said.

"I want you to loose"

"What good would that do?"

"It'd prove your love, that I'm more important to you than you are." _And it's not going to happen, AND I hope it proves to you that you DON'T REALLY LOVE ME_!

"What about the team?"

"If you love me, I'll be more important to you than they are too"

"What about Gryffindoor! We're on a 50-year winning streak! I can't just, throw all that work away"

"If you loved me you could" _Do you really believe that Lily? __**Well, love makes people do stupid things. **__Usually not on request. __**This isn't love, this is blackmail.**__ Well, if this is what it takes to get my life back, so be it. Potter brought it upon himself._

"I-I, Anything else Lily. I can't loose that match."

"Then you don't love me James."

"I do though Lily! You can't ask me to do this!"

"I just did." She walked slowly out the door. Somehow the triumph she was expecting wasn't there. Instead she felt a sense of loss. It wasn't as if she loved Potter, like she'd just lost something she'd loved; but to know so surely that he didn't love her, that all of these years had been for naught, It felt like she had. James was a part of her, his insanity was a part of her, and now she knew that that part hadn't ever really been there.


End file.
